My Bonnie

On The Beatles' first visit to Hamburg, Germany in 1960, they met rock and roller Tony Sheridan, and became friends with him. On their second visit, in 1961 (now minus Stuart Sutcliffe), The Beatles backed Sheridan in a series of stage performances. It is sometimes said that German Polydor agent Bert Kaempfert personally saw Sheridan with The Beatles, but others report that a friend of Kaempfert's suggested that he bring them in to put down some recordings. Either way, he produced the material with Karl Hinze engineering. While they recorded a number of songs together (as well as alone), few of them actually made it on to the album, with Sheridan re-recording many of them. The Beatles are known to appear on "My Bonnie" and "The Saints" (this pair was also released as a single, see below). The version of "Swanee River" on the album has sometimes been said to feature The Beatles, however that version is in fact not included here, and it is not known whether the original recording still exists.

Legend says, in 1961, Raymond Jones, a young man from Liverpool, made a request for a copy of the "My Bonnie" single, which brought The Beatles to the attention of then-record store manager Brian Epstein, and set in motion the events that would lead him to become their manager.^[1] After The Beatles became successful, the eight tracks The Beatles worked on and some other Beat Brothers material were issued on an album in 1964 titled The Beatles' First.

Track listing

Side one

"My Bonnie" (traditional, arranged by Tony Sheridan)
"Skinny Minnie" (Bill Haley, Rusty Keefer, Milt Gabler, Catherine Cafra)
"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On" (Dave Williams, Sonny David)
"I Know Baby" (Sheridan)
"You Are My Sunshine" (Jimmie Davis, Charles Mitchell)
"Ready Teddy" (Robert Blackwell, John Marascalco)

Side two

"The Saints" (James Milton Black, Katharine Purvis)
"Hallelujah, I Love Her So" (Ray Charles)
"Let's Twist Again" (Kal Mann, Dave Appell, Buchenkamp)
"Sweet Georgia Brown" (Bernie, Pinkard, Casey)
"Swanee River" (Stephen Foster)
"Top Ten Twist" (Homsen, Bones, Sheridan, Lüth)

In 2001, The MY Bonnie LP was issued on CD by Polydor, with 10 bonus tracks:

"My Bonnie (German intro)" (Trad./Sheridan-Bertie)
"Ich Lieb' Dich So" (Pomus-Spector-Lueth)
"Der Kiss-Me Song" (Warren-Schwabach-Wallnau)
"Madison Kid" (C. Thomas)
"Let's Dance" (Sheridan-Lee)
"Ruby Baby" (Leiber-Stoller)
"What'd I Say" (Ray Charles)
"Veedeboom Slop Slop" (Johnny Sivo)
"Let's Slop" (Sivo-Gleissner)
"My Bonnie (no intro)

Singles

“My Bonnie”

Original West German release

Single by Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers
from the album My Bonnie

A-side

My Bonnie

B-side

"The Saints"

Released

23 October 1961 (Germany)^[2]

Format

7", 45rpm

Recorded

22 June 1961, Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Harburg, Germany

Genre

Rock and roll

Label

Polydor NH24673 (Germany)

Writer(s)

Traditional, arranged by Tony Sheridan

Producer

Bert Kämpfert

Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers singles chronology

"My Bonnie"
(1961)

"Sweet Georgia Brown"
(1964)

The recording sessions with Tony Sheridan spawned a number of singles, three of which were not released until The Beatles had gained fame, and interest in the previously unreleased material grew.

"My Bonnie" b/w "The Saints" (credited to Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers) was first released in October 1961,^[3] and reached #5 in the German Hit Parade. In the United Kingdom the single was released on 5 January 1962 (credited to Tony Sheridan and The Beatles). In the United States, the release of 4 April 1962 (Decca 31382) was cancelled, but when the material was released on 27 January 1964 on MGM K-13213 as The Beatles with Tony Sheridan, it charted at #26 on Billboard.

After The Beatles gained fame, also "Ain't She Sweet"/"Nobody's Child" received a release, the former of which includes only The Beatles, while the latter features Sheridan on lead vocal. Next came "Sweet Georgia Brown"/"Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby", on which the credit is sometimes disputed, as it has not been proven whether The Beatles play on this version of "Sweet Georgia Brown". However, "Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby" is known to feature The Beatles, and was recorded in the same session as "Ain't She Sweet".

Finally, "Why"/"Cry for a Shadow" was released, on which "Why" was performed by Sheridan, with The Beatles on backup, and "Cry for a Shadow" was a Harrison/Lennon instrumental, the only one credited in this way. Numerous compilations of these early recordings have been released to the public, both officially and unofficially, most conclusively in the Bear Family box set Beatles Bop – Hamburg Days.

EP

My Bonnie was released as an EP on 12 July 1963 in the UK by Polydor Records. Also released in the UK that same day by Parlophone was their EP Twist and Shout.